Commonly stigmatized as “bastards” in early modern France, children born out of wedlock were said to have neither kin nor kind, neither family nor nation. In practice, however, many natural parents ...
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Commonly stigmatized as “bastards” in early modern France, children born out of wedlock were said to have neither kin nor kind, neither family nor nation. In practice, however, many natural parents voluntarily recognized their extramarital offspring and raised them within their households. Because early modern France lacked a uniform code of civil law, the rights and legal disabilities of these children were matters of perennial litigation and debate. The stigmatization of extramarital offspring intensified in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as the sovereign courts curbed the rights that such children had traditionally enjoyed. This bolstered the collective power of the elite lineages at the expense of individual passions. These families were the primary architects and beneficiaries of the development of absolute monarchy in France. However, in the eighteenth century, the growing problem of child abandonment prompted many jurists to reconsider whether the stigmatization of extramarital offspring was truly in the interest of the public and the state. At the same time, natural parents continued to exploit persistent variations in French law to provide favors and advantages to their extramarital offspring. Even as French legal culture increasingly shifted from an adjudicatory toward a more legislative model amid the deepening crisis of the Bourbon monarchy, children born out of wedlock were increasingly destigmatized as “natural children.”Less

Bastards : Politics, Family, and Law in Early Modern France

Matthew Gerber

Published in print: 2012-02-01

Commonly stigmatized as “bastards” in early modern France, children born out of wedlock were said to have neither kin nor kind, neither family nor nation. In practice, however, many natural parents voluntarily recognized their extramarital offspring and raised them within their households. Because early modern France lacked a uniform code of civil law, the rights and legal disabilities of these children were matters of perennial litigation and debate. The stigmatization of extramarital offspring intensified in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries as the sovereign courts curbed the rights that such children had traditionally enjoyed. This bolstered the collective power of the elite lineages at the expense of individual passions. These families were the primary architects and beneficiaries of the development of absolute monarchy in France. However, in the eighteenth century, the growing problem of child abandonment prompted many jurists to reconsider whether the stigmatization of extramarital offspring was truly in the interest of the public and the state. At the same time, natural parents continued to exploit persistent variations in French law to provide favors and advantages to their extramarital offspring. Even as French legal culture increasingly shifted from an adjudicatory toward a more legislative model amid the deepening crisis of the Bourbon monarchy, children born out of wedlock were increasingly destigmatized as “natural children.”

Since the late nineteenth century, fears that marriage is in crisis have reverberated around the world. This book explores this phenomenon, asking why people of various races, classes, and nations ...
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Since the late nineteenth century, fears that marriage is in crisis have reverberated around the world. This book explores this phenomenon, asking why people of various races, classes, and nations frequently seem to be fretting about marriage. Each of the twelve chapters analyzes a specific time and place during which proclamations of marriage crisis have dominated public discourse, whether in 1920s India, midcentury France, or present-day Iran. While each nation has had its own reasons for escalating anxieties over marriage and the family, common themes emerge in how people have understood and debated crises in marriage. Moments of marriage crisis often originate and are infused with concerns about sociopolitical and/or economic upheaval, shifting gender roles and behavior, the porous line between public and private, the clash between tradition and modernity, and expressions of national identity. Collectively, the chapters reveal how diverse individuals have deployed the institution of marriage to talk not only about intimate relationships, but also to understand the nation, its problems, and various socioeconomic and political transformations.Less

Published in print: 2016-04-01

Since the late nineteenth century, fears that marriage is in crisis have reverberated around the world. This book explores this phenomenon, asking why people of various races, classes, and nations frequently seem to be fretting about marriage. Each of the twelve chapters analyzes a specific time and place during which proclamations of marriage crisis have dominated public discourse, whether in 1920s India, midcentury France, or present-day Iran. While each nation has had its own reasons for escalating anxieties over marriage and the family, common themes emerge in how people have understood and debated crises in marriage. Moments of marriage crisis often originate and are infused with concerns about sociopolitical and/or economic upheaval, shifting gender roles and behavior, the porous line between public and private, the clash between tradition and modernity, and expressions of national identity. Collectively, the chapters reveal how diverse individuals have deployed the institution of marriage to talk not only about intimate relationships, but also to understand the nation, its problems, and various socioeconomic and political transformations.

This book studies fathers and families in the period from the First World War to the end of the 1950s. It takes a thematic approach, examining different aspects of fatherhood in turn, from the duties ...
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This book studies fathers and families in the period from the First World War to the end of the 1950s. It takes a thematic approach, examining different aspects of fatherhood in turn, from the duties it could and did encompass to the ways in which it related to men’s identities. The historical approach is socio-cultural: each chapter examines a wide range of historical source materials in order to analyse both cultural representations of fatherhood and related social norms, and the practices and experiences of individuals and families. Source materials include newspapers, advice literature, films and novels, oral history interviews, social research, and letters. The history of fatherhood is extremely significant to contemporary debate: assumptions about fatherhood in the past are constantly used to support arguments about the state of fatherhood today and the need for change or otherwise in the future.Less

Family Men : Fatherhood and Masculinity in Britain, 1914-1960

Laura King

Published in print: 2015-01-15

This book studies fathers and families in the period from the First World War to the end of the 1950s. It takes a thematic approach, examining different aspects of fatherhood in turn, from the duties it could and did encompass to the ways in which it related to men’s identities. The historical approach is socio-cultural: each chapter examines a wide range of historical source materials in order to analyse both cultural representations of fatherhood and related social norms, and the practices and experiences of individuals and families. Source materials include newspapers, advice literature, films and novels, oral history interviews, social research, and letters. The history of fatherhood is extremely significant to contemporary debate: assumptions about fatherhood in the past are constantly used to support arguments about the state of fatherhood today and the need for change or otherwise in the future.

The novels of Walker Percy—The Moviegoer, Lancelot, The Second Coming, and The Thanatos Syndrome to name a few—have left a permanent mark on twentieth-century Southern fiction; yet the history of the ...
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The novels of Walker Percy—The Moviegoer, Lancelot, The Second Coming, and The Thanatos Syndrome to name a few—have left a permanent mark on twentieth-century Southern fiction; yet the history of the Percy family in America matches anything, perhaps, that he could have created. Two centuries of wealth, literary accomplishment, political leadership, depression, and sometimes suicide established a fascinating legacy that lies behind Walker Percy's acclaimed prose and profound insight into the human condition. This book interprets the life of this gifted family, drawing out the twin themes of an inherited inclination to despondency and an abiding sense of honor. The Percy family roots in Mississippi and Louisiana go back to “Don Carlos” Percy, an eighteenth-century soldier of fortune who amassed a large estate but fell victim to mental disorder and suicide. The author traces the Percy family through the slaveholding heyday of antebellum Natchez, the ravages of the Civil War (which produced the heroic Colonel William Alexander Percy, the “Gray Eagle”), and a return to prominence in the Mississippi Delta after Reconstruction. As the biography of a powerful dynasty, steeped in Southern traditions and claims to kinship with English nobility, this book shows the interrelationship of legend, depression, and grand achievement.Less

The House of Percy : Honor, Melancholy, and Imagination in a Southern Family

Bertram Wyatt-Brown

Published in print: 1996-10-31

The novels of Walker Percy—The Moviegoer, Lancelot, The Second Coming, and The Thanatos Syndrome to name a few—have left a permanent mark on twentieth-century Southern fiction; yet the history of the Percy family in America matches anything, perhaps, that he could have created. Two centuries of wealth, literary accomplishment, political leadership, depression, and sometimes suicide established a fascinating legacy that lies behind Walker Percy's acclaimed prose and profound insight into the human condition. This book interprets the life of this gifted family, drawing out the twin themes of an inherited inclination to despondency and an abiding sense of honor. The Percy family roots in Mississippi and Louisiana go back to “Don Carlos” Percy, an eighteenth-century soldier of fortune who amassed a large estate but fell victim to mental disorder and suicide. The author traces the Percy family through the slaveholding heyday of antebellum Natchez, the ravages of the Civil War (which produced the heroic Colonel William Alexander Percy, the “Gray Eagle”), and a return to prominence in the Mississippi Delta after Reconstruction. As the biography of a powerful dynasty, steeped in Southern traditions and claims to kinship with English nobility, this book shows the interrelationship of legend, depression, and grand achievement.

Using Philadelphia as a case study, this book explores the history of day care from the perspective of families who have used it, tracing day care's transformation from a charity for poor single ...
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Using Philadelphia as a case study, this book explores the history of day care from the perspective of families who have used it, tracing day care's transformation from a charity for poor single mothers in the early 20th century to a legitimate and culturally accepted social need for ordinary families—and a potential responsibility of government—by the 1950s.Less

A Mother's Job : The History of Day Care, 1890–1960

Elizabeth Rose

Published in print: 1999-03-04

Using Philadelphia as a case study, this book explores the history of day care from the perspective of families who have used it, tracing day care's transformation from a charity for poor single mothers in the early 20th century to a legitimate and culturally accepted social need for ordinary families—and a potential responsibility of government—by the 1950s.

This is the story of a marriage between middle-income gentry landowners in nineteenth-century provincial Russia. The mother, Natalia Chikhacheva, oversaw serf labor and managed finances while the ...
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This is the story of a marriage between middle-income gentry landowners in nineteenth-century provincial Russia. The mother, Natalia Chikhacheva, oversaw serf labor and managed finances while the father, Andrei Chikhachev, raised the children, at a time when domestic ideology advocating a woman’s place in the home was at its height in European advice manuals. Andrei defined masculinity as a realm of intellectualism existing only symbolically “outside the home.” Thus the father’s place could be in charge of “moral education,” defined as an intellectual task. Managing estates that often barely yielded a livable income was a practical task and therefore considered less elevated, though still vitally important to the family’s interests. This book examines the daily activities and ideas of a family based on diaries and letters by the husband, wife, and son of the family. Chapters focus on the Chikhachevs’ social life, reading habits, attitudes toward illness and death, as well as their gendered marital roles and their reception of major ideas of their time, such as domesticity, Enlightenment, sentimentalism, and Romanticism.Less

An Ordinary Marriage : The World of a Gentry Family in Provincial Russia

Katherine Pickering Antonova

Published in print: 2012-12-14

This is the story of a marriage between middle-income gentry landowners in nineteenth-century provincial Russia. The mother, Natalia Chikhacheva, oversaw serf labor and managed finances while the father, Andrei Chikhachev, raised the children, at a time when domestic ideology advocating a woman’s place in the home was at its height in European advice manuals. Andrei defined masculinity as a realm of intellectualism existing only symbolically “outside the home.” Thus the father’s place could be in charge of “moral education,” defined as an intellectual task. Managing estates that often barely yielded a livable income was a practical task and therefore considered less elevated, though still vitally important to the family’s interests. This book examines the daily activities and ideas of a family based on diaries and letters by the husband, wife, and son of the family. Chapters focus on the Chikhachevs’ social life, reading habits, attitudes toward illness and death, as well as their gendered marital roles and their reception of major ideas of their time, such as domesticity, Enlightenment, sentimentalism, and Romanticism.

This book is about the world of parenting and parenthood in the Georgian era. It navigates recent ‘turns’ towards emotions, subjectivity, memory, the body and materiality. This approach reveals the ...
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This book is about the world of parenting and parenthood in the Georgian era. It navigates recent ‘turns’ towards emotions, subjectivity, memory, the body and materiality. This approach reveals the profound emotions provoked by motherhood and fatherhood and the labour and hard work it entailed. Such parental investment meant that the experience was fundamental to the forging of national, family and personal identities. Society called upon parents to transmit prized values across generations and this study explores how this was achieved. All in all, raising children needed more than two parents. At all levels of society, household and kinship ties were drawn upon to lighten the labours of parenting and this book reveals how crucial grandparents, aunts, uncles and servants were to raising children. It also discusses the ways in which parenting adapted across the life‐course, changed by the transitions of ageing, marriage and family, adversity and crisis, and death and memory.Less

Parenting in England 1760-1830 : Emotion, Identity, and Generation

Joanne Bailey

Published in print: 2012-04-05

This book is about the world of parenting and parenthood in the Georgian era. It navigates recent ‘turns’ towards emotions, subjectivity, memory, the body and materiality. This approach reveals the profound emotions provoked by motherhood and fatherhood and the labour and hard work it entailed. Such parental investment meant that the experience was fundamental to the forging of national, family and personal identities. Society called upon parents to transmit prized values across generations and this study explores how this was achieved. All in all, raising children needed more than two parents. At all levels of society, household and kinship ties were drawn upon to lighten the labours of parenting and this book reveals how crucial grandparents, aunts, uncles and servants were to raising children. It also discusses the ways in which parenting adapted across the life‐course, changed by the transitions of ageing, marriage and family, adversity and crisis, and death and memory.

The theme of this book is the kinship relationships that were central to nineteenth‐century nascent capitalist society. The middle classes were at the forefront of this development, but as yet only a ...
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The theme of this book is the kinship relationships that were central to nineteenth‐century nascent capitalist society. The middle classes were at the forefront of this development, but as yet only a rudimentary reliable financial and legal infrastructure existed. It was their extensive kinship networks that provided the capital, personnel, skills, and contacts crucial for expanding commercial and professional enterprises. While this was characteristic of the Western middle strata ‐ Protestant and Catholic alike ‐ this study concentrates on Great Britain with some reference to other countries where appropriate. Part I examines kinship relations and how they have been understood. It raises the question of why siblings in particular have been neglected until the last few decades. Part II provides a brief description of British middle‐class life and the structure and culture of large families. The following chapters cover sibling relationships from childhood through adult life, especially the differential experiences of sisters and brothers. It includes a chapter on aunts, uncles, and cousins. A wide range of examples is used encompassing ordinary as well as well‐known people. Sources include oral histories and data from the 1881 census. Part III is a series of essays on aspects of these relationships: sibling incest; cousin marriage; the impact of seniority and gender in the lives of William Gladstone and his sisters; an examination of Sigmund Freud’s relationships to his siblings; the effect of sibling loss. The book concludes with a brief discussion of the relevance of these themes for our contemporary world.Less

Thicker than Water : Siblings and their Relations, 1780-1920

Leonore Davidoff

Published in print: 2011-11-24

The theme of this book is the kinship relationships that were central to nineteenth‐century nascent capitalist society. The middle classes were at the forefront of this development, but as yet only a rudimentary reliable financial and legal infrastructure existed. It was their extensive kinship networks that provided the capital, personnel, skills, and contacts crucial for expanding commercial and professional enterprises. While this was characteristic of the Western middle strata ‐ Protestant and Catholic alike ‐ this study concentrates on Great Britain with some reference to other countries where appropriate. Part I examines kinship relations and how they have been understood. It raises the question of why siblings in particular have been neglected until the last few decades. Part II provides a brief description of British middle‐class life and the structure and culture of large families. The following chapters cover sibling relationships from childhood through adult life, especially the differential experiences of sisters and brothers. It includes a chapter on aunts, uncles, and cousins. A wide range of examples is used encompassing ordinary as well as well‐known people. Sources include oral histories and data from the 1881 census. Part III is a series of essays on aspects of these relationships: sibling incest; cousin marriage; the impact of seniority and gender in the lives of William Gladstone and his sisters; an examination of Sigmund Freud’s relationships to his siblings; the effect of sibling loss. The book concludes with a brief discussion of the relevance of these themes for our contemporary world.

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